"SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California water agencies that serve 27 million residents and 750,000 acres of farmland won’t get any of the water they’ve requested from the state heading into 2022 other than what’s needed for critical health and safety, state officials announced Wednesday.
It’s the earliest date the Department of Water Resources has issued a 0% water allocation, a milestone that reflects the dire conditions in California as drought continues to grip the nation’s most populous state and reservoirs sit at historically low levels. State water officials said mandatory water restrictions could be coming.
“If conditions continue to be this dry, we will see mandatory cutbacks,” Karla Nemeth, director of DWR, told reporters.
A complex system of reservoirs, canals and dams called the State Water Project supplies water to 29 districts across the state. The districts have a maximum amount they can request each year, and the allocation represents how much the state can give based on available supplies."
Kathleen Ronayne reports for the Associated Press December 1, 2021.
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